Underground reading: Michigan's oldest African American church is a national landmark, bookstore and home to abolition history that still serves its politically active congregation. (market buzz).Detroit is one of the most significant locations for the telling of Underground Railroad Underground Railroad, in U.S. history, loosely organized system for helping fugitive slaves escape to Canada or to areas of safety in free states. It was run by local groups of Northern abolitionists, both white and free blacks. The metaphor first appeared in print in the early 1840s, and other railroad terminology was soon added. The escaping slaves were called passengers; the homes where they were sheltered, stations; and those who guided them, conductors. history in this country--the last stop before reaching `Canaan Land' or freedom," says Rita C. Organ, director of exhibits and collections at the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center in Cincinnati. "Detroit was known as Midnight," says Organ. "If escaped slaves made it to Midnight, they were within sight of freedom," she adds. From 1836 until the end of the Civil War, the Second Baptist Church in Detroit served as the largest station and the last stop on what was known as Route 4 of the Underground Railroad. Approximately 5,000 runaway slaves seeking freedom in Canada found safe haven in the church basement. There, they received food, shelter and inspiration, and many also learned to read. Church members were often helped by whites, such as abolitionist Morton Finney, who helped hide fugitive slaves in his barn. "Some rowed slaves across the river," says Organ. However, many runaways managed to get across the Detroit River by boat, swimming and even by walking across the ice. Now a national historic landmark, Second Baptist is the oldest African-American church in Michigan and spiritual home to a large, politically and socially active congregation. The church also houses the Underground Railroad Reading Station Bookstore--Detroit's African-American history stop. Though it was established months before Michigan was admitted to the Union as a non-slaveholding state, the Second Baptist Church moved to its current location in 1857. "Churches were among the few places blacks could safely congregate," says Bobbie R.F. Davis, who runs the bookstore located in the historic landmark church. "Second Baptist Church is well-documented as a hiding place for fugitive slaves, a secret meeting place for abolitionists abolitionists, in U.S. history, particularly in the three decades before the Civil War, members of the movement that agitated for the compulsory emancipation of the slaves. Abolitionists are distinguished from free-soilers, who opposed the further extension of slavery, but the groups came to act together politically and otherwise in the antislavery cause., and it is a source of great Detroit pride," notes Organ. Although there are tours of the church and its historical artifacts, Davis is quick to point out: "We are not a museum. The bookstore opened August 5, 2000, as the church's historical tours literally took on a life of their own. We have become a tourist attraction," she says of the shop, which is open on a limited basis, six days a week. The Underground Railroad Reading Station is a niche bookstore that carries historical and religious books and gifts. Bibles for adults and children, Kente-cloth covers, sermons, and Bible study aids are offered along with modern-day Christian best-sellers. The store also stocks slave narratives, collectibles and historical fiction. The Underground Railroad Reading Station also carries a wide range of audio material, including recordings of the 1918 Fisk Jubilee and Tuskegee Singers as well as concert recordings by the Detroit-based Brazeal Dennard Chorale. Film and videotapes are available for sale or rental throughout the year. During Black History Month, the bookstore sponsors a free film festival featuring works about African heritage and West African culture; the African holocaust and the slave trade; great inventors, heroes and heroines; and black history makers. There are also events and book signings featuring black writers. Leaders are Readers is a children's book club organized by the bookstore that gives young readers an opportunity to build their own book collections through reading. "If they can read the book, they can have it. It's a way of encouraging children to read and allowing them to re-read some of their favorite stories," says Davis. Last November, the bookstore established a chapter of the Glory Girls, the national bookstore reading dub for Christian women. With nearly 50 members in four groups, the members meet bimonthly and read "scripturally sound fiction and nonfiction" by African-American Christian authors. "We carry a number of best-sellers as well as several books by self-published authors," says Davis, who is primarily a specialty bookseller. "There are many things we do not have. For those items we often refer visitors to Apple Book Center or the Shrine of the Black Madonna, [Detroit-area African American-owned bookstores]." Detroit author Beverly Jenkins' third novel, Indigo, is the story of a Michigan conductor on the Underground Railroad and a black freedom fighter. Second Baptist Church, which Jenkins says "widened the path to freedom" through its abolitionist activities, is mentioned in the novel. For those interested in the abolition movement, Davis hopes more visitors will stop by the Underground Railroad Reading Station and take in the literature and the history. "It's a destination, an education and a cultural experience for all who visit, seeking Detroit's Black History." Underground Railroad Reading Station Bookstore 461 Monroe Avenue Detroit, MI 48226 Phone: (313) 961-0325 Fax: (313) 961-961-0444 E-mail address: ugrrbook@aol.com Hours: Monday: Closed Tuesday, Thursday and Friday:. 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday: 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday: 12:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. Visitors to the Underground Railroad Reading Station Bookstore are reading: Joy (see BIBR November-December 2001) by Victoria Christopher Murray Walk Worthy Press, November 2001 $23.95, ISBN 0-446-52875-7 Temptation by Victoria Christopher Murray Walk Worthy Press, September 2000 $19.95, ISBN 0-446-52792-0 No Man Can Hinder Me: The Journey from Slavery and Emancipation Through Song by Velma Maia Thomas Crown Publishing, October 2001 $32.50, ISBN 0-609-60719-7 Children's Books Journey to Freedom: A Story of the Underground Railroad by Courtni C. Wright Holiday House, September 1997 $6.95, ISBN 0-823-41333-0, ages 4-8 Freedom's Children: The Passage from Emancipation to the Great Migration by Velma Maia Thomas Crown Publishing, October 2000 $32.50, ISBN 0-609-60481-3 Forced Into Glory: Abraham Lincoln's White Dream by Lerone Bennett, Jr. Johnson Publishing Co., February 2000 $35.00, ISBN 0-874-85085-1 From Slavery to Freedom: A History of African Americans by John Hope Franklin Knopf, March 2000, $49.95 ISBN 0-375-40671-9 Aunt Harriet's Underground Railroad in the Sky by Faith Ringgold Crown Publishing, December 1995 $6.99, ISBN 0-517-88543-3, ages 4-8 Church Folk (see BIBR July-August 2001) by Michele Andrea Bowen Warner Books, June 2001 $21.95, ISBN 0-446-52799-8 Black Labor, White Wealth: The Search for Power and Economic Justice by Dr. Claud Anderson Powernomics Corp., August 1994 $16.95, ISBN 0-966-17021-0 Dirty Little Secrets About Black History: Its Heroes and Troublemakers edited by Dr. Claud Anderson Powernomics Corp. of American December 1997, $16.00 ISBN 0-966-17020-2 Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt by Deborah Hopkinson Random House, August 1995 $6.99, ISBN 0-679-87472-0, ages 4-8 Gwendolyn E. Osborne is associate editor at Black Issues Book Review for the "Market Buzz" department and public affairs director for the Illinois Institute of Technology's downtown campus. She also serves as senior reviewer for two Internet publications, The Romance Reader and The Mystery Reader. Learn the history of black romances on page 50. |
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